Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Leibold Irrigation Resumes Installation

The week's warm, dry weather has allowed the Leibold team to move forward with the irrigation installation on the golf course. They have roughly 90% of last year's staff on hand and have been busy pulling pipe and wire, as well as installing heads around several tees (2,3,8,11) and #2 fairway.

Work on #3 tee - notice the perched Red Tail Hawk checking out the action.




Ground conditions have firmed up just enough to allow the large equipment to operate with no significant damage or tracking. Plywood is laid out for the Flex Track pipe/wire puller (right) and the mini excavator (above) to avoid excess wear on the turf. The video below shows the Flex Track machine in action on #11 tee. Its vibratory plow creates a small trench, followed by the pulling-in of the PVC pipe and signal wiring.




No sod or soil is removed during the process, only where sprinkler heads or valves are placed. This makes for a near seamless recovery. The photo below was taken minutes after the Flex Track pulled-in pipe and wire in front of #11 tee. The soil piles indicate sprinkler head locations.



ComEd wired in the transformer box by the pump station yesterday, and we expect the system to be partially operable by the end of next week. As of today, there are a total of 9 fairways and 6 tee complexes yet to be completed. We're keeping our fingers crossed for cooperative weather so we can continue to move forward as scheduled.

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